If YOU were looking for a mare to buy (thoroughbred) for breeding?

I would choose a mare who had some success running long, had decent blood lines for distance racing (stamina) and if possible had shown some success over turf courses, would look to breed to a fashionable but not terribly overpriced sire (example...storm cat @500K a squirt or his son giants causeway @300K) but more like Dynaformer (pricey but I love this breeding...barbaro's sire)who breeds distance and grass monsters, AP Indy (also pricey but nice offspring, primarily distance and dirt) or a son of Danzig (there are many and the sons tend to throw horses that savior more distance than the dad, he produced mostly milers or about, on dirt and grass) or a productive offspring of Mr Prospector like smart strike (75K) or Gone West (very nice breeding ) or even a bargain like Cat Thief (35k)

In an ideal world I'd get my hands on a Northern Dancer line mare and breed her to a Mr Prospector line stallion. I once looked after a Nureyev mare (half sister to an Arc winner) who was bred to Machiavellian and I swear to god that was the nicest looking foal I've ever seen!

That's my opinion anyway. I also think you should only breed from a mare that has won herself - what's the point if you don't know her ability? And one that has a proven family history of producing winners.

Don't be swayed by fashion when selecting a stallion: first-season sires are totally over-used. If I had a mare right now with the right bloodlines I'd put her to ZAMINDAR here in Newmarket. He is a full brother to the late-great Zafonic and has produced some great horses from only small crops to date - including the very talented DARJINA.

The biggest bonus, his stud fee is only £7,000 Special Live Foal.